NXP Semiconductors is one of the largest non-memory semiconductors suppliers across the world. The company is famous in the electronics industry for supplying semiconductors for secure identification, automotive, and digital networking sectors. Originally the company was founded in 1953 as a part of Philips and it was known as Philips Semiconductors. But, in 2006 this division was sold to private equity investors who then changed the name to NXP Semiconductors.
Currently, the headquarters of this spun-off company is based in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The company is running its business in more than 35 countries with approximately 31,000 employees. Kurt Sievers is the current CEO and President of NXP Semiconductors. Qualcomm, a few years back, proposed to buy the company but the deal was called off later.
History of NXP Semiconductors
Philips is a multinational conglomerate and back in 1953, it had many divisions and factories spread across many regions. In 1953, Philips started a small-scale production in Nijmegen (a city in Dutch) which became a part of Icoma (a division of Dutch Philips). Over the next two decades many such production facilities and new divisions were established by Philips.
In 1975, Philips acquired Signetics which made the former company the second-largest semiconductor manufacturers in the entire world. Every division of Philips in every other nation had a different name and the company decided to merge all these into Philips Components and renamed it as Philips Semiconductor in 1991. In 1999, Philips Semiconductors acquired VLSI Technology and this acquisition made it the sixth-largest semiconductor company in the world.
Formation of NXP Semiconductors
It was in December 2005 when Philips decided to spin off Philips Semiconductors and make it an independent company. A consortium of private equity investors bought an 80.1% stake in Philips Semiconductors in September 2006. The investors who were involved in this acquisition were Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), Bain Capital, Silver Lake Partners, Apax Partners, and AlpInvest Partners. The new name of the company was changed to NXP Semiconductors (from next experience). The company was launched officially during the Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) consumer electronics show in Berlin. Even after the company was separated from the big brand name of Philips, NXP ranked one of the top 10 semiconductor companies worldwide.
During the acquisition, Frans Van Houten was the CEO of NXP Semiconductors. He emphasized on the fact that NXP should evolve and enter into the “vibrant media” technologies present in every essential gadget and appliance from smartphones to digital televisions. NXP planned to strengthen its mobile phone and personal business and thus announced the acquisition of Silicon Laboratories’ AeroFONE single-chip phone and power amplifier product lines.
After one year, NXP decided to start a joint venture with STMicroelectronics and NXP’s mobile and personal business unit. But in 2009 STMicroelectronics bought the 20% stake of NXP and it became a joint venture between Ericsson and ST. The same year NXP decided to sell its Home Business unit to Trident Microsystems. NXP was in a very good shape this time which called for a restructure of its manufacturing plan and it led to a job loss of 4,500 employees.
Major Events in The Company
In 2009, the position of Frans Van Houten was taken over by Rick Clemmer and under his leadership, the company focussed more on “high-performance mixed-signal” products. In 2010, NXP acquired Jennic, a UK-based company that is now part of its smart home and energy product line. The same year NXP announced its IPO in NASDAQ with a total shares of 34,000,000. At the end of 2010, the company decided to sell its Sound Solutions business for $855 million. In 2012, NXP’s revenue increased by 41% as compared to 2011 and it was mainly because of demand for NFC chips and secure elements. Last year, Kurt Sievers was appointed the new CEO of the company.
Kurt Sievers – CEO of NXP Semiconductors
Since May 2020, Kurt has been serving as the CEO of the company and his main motto for the company is “secure connections for a smarter world”. The focus of the company should evolve with time and the demand of users is always changing with more profound tech and the threats of compromising it. Kurt went to Augsburg University, Germany, and has two master’s degrees in information technology and physics respectively. Kurt has significantly made many acquisitions possible for NXP and played different roles in the company since 1995.
Annasha Dey is an NIT student, who apart from studying engineering is also a content writer. She has a great interest in photography, writing, reading novels, and travelling as well. She is a foodie who loves socializing and hanging out with her friends. She is also a trained Kathak dancer and a big fashion enthusiast. Dey also loves watching TV series, which includes F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and Big Bang Theory. To be a better writer she prefers to read more